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THE 



SILK INDUSTET 



OF 



^Q 



THE UNITED STATES 



From 1766 to 1874. 




By A$Ct> '"LILLY. 



NEW YOEK : 
Jenkins & Thomas, Peintees, 8 Spruce Steeet. 




V 3 



By trwaatei 

JUN 19 1915 



THE SILK INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 
FROM 1766 TO 1874 

By A. T. LILLY. 

As the following sketch is largely composed of personal rem- 
iniscences, no reference will be made to early efforts at silk culture 
and manufacture in Georgia, and elsewhere at the South, during 
colonial times, which have been already recorded in history. No 
attempt will be made to describe the praiseworthy labors at Phil- 
adelphia of Mr. Hoeckly in 1793, and Mr. William H. Horstmann 
in 1815. The present retrospect will be confined to the origin and 
growth of the silk industry in a locality with which the writer was 
thoroughly acquainted. A peculiar interest gathers around the 
early struggles of a manufacturing art which has since been estab- 
lished at numerous sites far from its obscure birthplace, and has 
now become of national importance. 

An extract from Barber's " History bi , 0<$fihecticut " (published 
in 1836) may fitly serve to intro^uge further. details. Under the 
head of " Mansfield " is the following : — 

A larger quantity of silk is manufactured here than at any other place in 
the United States. This branch of industry was introduced into this country 
by Dr. Aspinwall, of this place, about 1766, who established the raising of 
silk-worms in New Haven, Long Island, and Philadelphia. At this period 
(1766) half an ounce of mulberry seed was sent to every parish in Connecti- 
cut, and the legislature for a time offered a bounty on mulberry-trees and 
raw silk. Two hundred and sixty-five lbs. were raised in 1793, and the 
quantity has been increasing ever since. In 1830, 3,200 lbs. were raised. 
Two small silk factories have been established in this town by an English 
manufacturer. The double wheel-head was invented by Mr. Horace Hanks, 
about the year 1800, for the purpose of spinning silk. It was first used in 
the family of Mr. "Wright. The first silk reeled from cocoons was the work 
of the wife of the Eev. Mr. Martin, who had been in France, and had seen 
the operation in that country. 

The growth of silk culture in Mansfield, as indicated above, 
steadily rising from 265 lbs. in 1793 to 3,200 lbs. in a period of 
thirty-seven years, was continuous until 1843-44, when a blight of 
the mulberry-trees and other concurrent misfortunes led to an 
abandonment of the business of raising silk, not only in that local- 



*2 SILK INDUSTKY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

ity, but throughout the country. The growth of the trees proba- 
bly dates from 1766, when there was a general distribution of 
mulberry seed throughout the State of Connecticut. Mansfield 
seems, however, to have been the only locality where raising silk 
became a fixed industry. This must be attributed rather to the 
interest taken in the matter by the inhabitants of the town than to 
any peculiar advantage of soil or climate. Until the blight of 1844 
killed the mulberry-trees, they were growing throughout the town- 
ship. Here and there portions of land, quaintly termed " mulberry 
orchards," were entirely devoted to them, and they stood in rows, 
being planted fifteen or twenty feet apart. Elsewhere, and not 
unfrequently, they shaded the sides of the roads leading to the 
farm-houses, they adorned highways and by-ways, and fringed the 
edges of the cultivated fields. The mulberry-tree interfered little, 
if at all, with the use of the land for other purposes, while it fur- 
nished the means of a considerable income to its owner. The silk 
obtained by a single family sometimes amounted to 130 lbs. in a 
season. The labor required was light, as the processes were sim- 
ple and invariably successful, and women and children performed 
all the work, except during the sixth or last week of the life of the 
worms, when the men usually gave assistance. Sometimes the 
owner of trees let them on shares for the season ; sometimes he 
sold their leaves at a given price per pound, to be picked by the 
purchaser. This constant source of income to the owner of mul- 
berry-trees was for fifty years a demonstrated fact. There is no 
reason why it should not again be possible, and not in a restricted 
locality, but throughout the breadth of our country. The deficien- 
cy is not of climate or soil, but of willing hands. Not only the 
care of the silk-worms, but the manufacture of silk, and in most 
cases its sale, were part of the business of the matron of the house. 
The silk was reeled from the cocoons by a process of the most 
primitive description; and so crude w r as the product thus obtained 
that it could only be spun by hand. It may well be doubted 
whether silk so reeled could be used by a manufacturer, if aided 
by all the ingenious machinery of the present day. The hand- 
wheel, on which previous to the year 1800 all spinning was per- 
formed, was exceedingly simple. A band carried the motion di- 
rectly from a large wheel turned by the operator to the "whur" 
on the spindle ; and many revolutions of the wheel were required 
to give the needful twist. In the year 1800 Horace Hanks invent- 



SILK INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES. O 

ed the double wheel-head. In this device the band passed from 
the large wheel to a counter-shaft, and thence to the spindle 
" whur," giving an increased speed of 145 turns to one as com- 
pared with the old wheel-head. The new invention, under Hanks's 
patent, was hailed by the matrons of that day with enthusiasm as 
a labor-saving contrivance, and found due appreciation in spinning 
silk, wool, and cotton. 

American sewing-silk was at that time sold by the skein instead 
of by weight. For convenience twenty-five skeins were tied in 
a bunch, and four bunches were fastened together, thus giving a 
merchantable package of one hundred skeins, — a unit of trade on 
which the price was based. Uniformity in length of thread was 
secured by act of the legislature, which declared that there should 
be forty yards in a skein. The act was enforced with the follow- 
ing penalty : — 

Any person or persons who shall sell or offer for sale any sewing-silk, 
unless each skein consists of twenty threads, each thread of the length of 
two yards, shall forfeit the sum of seven dollars to any person who shall 
prosecute the same to effect. 

Yankee ingenuity soon discovered a method of evading the 
statute. Only twenty yards being put in each skein, the seller 
was careful to speak of them as half-skeins ; but, as they passed 
from hand to hand, perhaps some vender neglected this precau- 
tion, or perhaps the "half-skein" was too faintly spoken to be 
heard. As the fine went to the informer, if the purchaser wished 
to take this advantage he might perhaps be willing to be imposed 
upon for the sake of recovering the fine. Thus, with both buyer 
and seller there was a possibility of advantage in the half- skeins, and 
it is quite certain that they were popular. The loss by such fraud, 
we may suppose, ultimately fell on the consumer. Probably then 
as now, in respect to skeins as to spooled silk, the purchase, if 
weighed in the balance, would frequently be found wanting. Aside 
from the half-skein system, there was the inducement to make the 
thread, by extra labor, go as far as possible. The only limit to 
the fineness of the thread was the fear that it might be unsalable. 
As the fair spinners themselves sold their product, they doubtless 
gauged the fineness of their thread by their capacity as sales- 
women. 

Trade of that period took largely the form of barter. Having 
dyed her silk with her own hands, the matron repaired to the 



4: SILK INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

country merchant to exchange it for dry goods or groceries. The 
" shopping " of the present day must be regarded as tame in com- 
parison with those cheery contests of old between buyer and seller, 
when the value of the offered silk was a question of more delicate 
adjustment than that of the goods on the shopkeepers' shelves. In 
contests such as these the man full often discovered that the wo- 
man was his equal. The merchant had to find a market for the 
accumulated silk in the city. He, too, now wanted to exchange it 
for goods, but the personal charms of the vender no longer as- 
sisted the sale of the skeins. Compared with the Italian sewing- 
silk, the American was inferior, and often a drug in the market. 
Consumers found the thread too fine and of an uneven size, that 
gave it a rough appearance. Frequently the great objection was 
urged that there was too much floss upon it. The color was often 
defective, both as to shade and permanence. Notwithstanding all 
these drawbacks, however, its silk production gave to the town of 
Mansfield an income of not less than $50,000 per annum. The 
labor which produced this sum interfered little with the other 
work of the household, and was vastly more profitable. 

Such were the characteristics of the silk industry in this country 
prior to the introduction of machinery that was to supersede the 
spinning-wheel. A lad employed as a " throwster " in an English 
silk-mill was the means of bringing about this great change. In 
1827 or 1828, Edmund Golding, of Macclesfield, England, deter- 
mined to seek his fortune in the United States. He was then 
seventeen years of age, and he expected to find ready employment 
as a " throwster " in an American silk factory. Great was his dis- 
appointment at finding there was nothing of the sort in this coun- 
try ; and that even at Mansfield, the headquarters of the silk in- 
dustry, no process but that of hand-spinning had been adopted. 
He sought employment in the town in vain ; and he had reached 
his last sixpence, and was in threadbare garments, when Mr. Wil- 
liam A. Eisk, a trader, offered to give him food and shelter for 
whatever work he could do — an offer that was gratefully accepted. 
A neighbor of Mr. Fisk, Mr. Alfred Lilly, a manufacturer of screw- 
augers and auger-bits, took an interest in the lad, and invited him 
to spend the evenings at his house. Golding there described his 
previous occupation. The mode of spinning silk by machinery, as 
then practised in England, was thus in a general way explained to 
Mr. Lilly, — Golding making rude sketches of the winding, dou- 



SILK INDUSTKY OF THE UNITED STATES. 5 

bling and spinning frames. Mr. Lilly readily comprehended the 
details of the manufacture, and foresaw no great difficulty in at- 
tempting it. 

The three thousand pounds of raw silk which were then annu- 
ally produced in Mansfield could only be disposed of when con- 
verted by hand-manufacture into sewing-silk, and for the most 
part had to be offered in barter. Mr. Lilly hoped that by means 
of machinery a sewing-silk could be made equal to the Italian, 
and, like it, capable of being sold for cash, instead of being ex- 
changed for goods at irregular valuations. He was fully acquaint- 
ed with the praiseworthy efforts which his townsmen, Messrs. 
Hanks, had already made in endeavoring to spin silk by ma- 
chinery ; he was further apprised of their utter failure, both in 
demonstrating that the manufacture of sewing-silk by machinery 
was practicable, and in awakening a public interest that might 
have carried forward the undertaking. Not discouraged by these 
facts, he brought the subject before Captain Joseph Conant and 
Messrs. William A. Fisk, William Atwood, Storrs Hovey, and Jesse 
Bingham, and with them eventually formed a copartnership, under 
the name of the Mansfield Silk Company, for the manufacture of 
silk by machinery. 

Each member of the company was required to pay $50 at once, 
and could be assessed from time to time for further payments till 
he had contributed $700 to the concern; having reached this 
limit, he could not be required to pay more. Mr. Atwood was 
chosen as treasurer and business agent. He was a competent 
man of business, besides having some special knowledge of silk. 
He had produced for several years on his farm an annual average 
of not less than 130 pounds of raw silk, which he had disposed of 
to advantage after it was made into sewing-silk and button-hole 
twist. Mr. Lilly had charge of procuring the machinery. A por- 
tion of this was made in his own shop, and the remainder was 
obtained from regular machinists. A room and power having 
been temporarily provided, the machinery when ready was put in 
motion, under the direct charge of Edmund Golding. Afterwards 
the company purchased a building and power (which had been 
used for the manufacture of wool) situated in Guiieyville. Thither 
they moved their machinery. To this day the building is known 
as " The Williams Silk Mill'." 

The serious difficulties of manufacture soon became manifest. 



D SILK INDUSTKY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

The machinery was very crude, and a Yankee " throwster " of 
seventeen to-day would scarcely recognize it as bearing any rela- 
tion to the work. It was capable of doing all that Mr. GoldiDg 
had claimed for it, but it proved inadequate for the manufacture 
of American silk as that was then reeled. Finding themselves 
unable to carry out their original project, since Mr. Golding could 
give them no hint at improving the reeling, they took his advice 
in importing raw silk from England. Mr. Ezra Goodridge, of 
New York, was the importer through whom a small quantity of 
ordinary reel Taysaam, Brussia, and long-reeled Canton raw silk 
was obtained. This purchase was a great curiosity in Connecticut, 
and the manner of working it was a mystery to outsiders. Mr. 
Golding proved competent in the art of winding the silk, and also 
in teaching it to a few girls, though they found difficulties in their 
work which would be laughed at by a winder of the present day. 
But Golding's lack of knowledge about reeling — his chief acquaint- 
ance being with the business of winding and spinning organzine 
and tram — made their attempts to compete with the Italian sew- 
ing-silk unsatisfactory, although their product was superior to the 
home-made skeins. 

The company were cheered by the hope of better success in 
weaving silk, and in this branch of business Mr. Golding was bet- 
ter able to encourage their hopes. In the spring of 1829 the 
Mansfield Silk Company was incorporated by the Legislature — a 
circumstance which directed public attention to their efforts, and 
occasioned wide-spread interest in the growth and manufacture of 
silk. People made long journeys to see the machinery in opera- 
tion, and letters of inquiry were numerous. Among the visitors 
was a Mr. Brown, by birth an Englishman, who was engaged in 
the tassel manufacture at Boston, and was anxious to obtain his 
stock as cheaply as possible. He was familiar with the true pro- 
cess of reeling, and explained it to the company. They had a reel 
constructed under his direct supervision. 

The unquestionable success of the new reel gave fresh life to 
the enterprise. The company advertised their willingness to pur- 
chase all the cocoons that might be offered, and their purchases 
were large. A small building, with power, was devoted to reeling. 
Improvements were rapidly made, patented, and adopted, in the 
reels driven by power. Not only was the reeling perfectly suc- 
cessful, but the native silk was found to be of superior quality and 



SILK INDUSTEY OF THE UNITED STATES. 7 

strength, winding and doubling with greater facility and less 
waste than China or Brussia silk. 

Instead of being a drug in the market, American silk now be- 
came an object of demand, and the company took measures to in- 
crease the supply. The hardy native white mulberry was the sole 
source of food for the silk-worms. The seed of this tree was 
carefully gathered in Mansfield for the company, and in the spring 
following they took measures for extensive planting. Their agents 
were sent into different sections of Connecticut and neighboring 
States, with instructions to lease for a term of years suitable land 
for nurseries, and to arrange with the owners of the land for aid 
in planting, and for subsequent care. The agents were to revisit 
the nurseries from time to time, as often as might be necessary to 
ascertain that they had proper attention, and to secure successf ul 
growth. 

In the Spring of 1832 the company appeared before the legis- 
lature to ask State aid for encouraging the culture and manufac- 
ture of silk. The Governor, with members of a legislative com- 
mittee, visited the company's silk mill, and took great interest in 
examining the materials used, and the machinery and processes of 
manufacture. Some specimens of the goods made — such as vest 
patterns and handkerchiefs — were presented to the visitors. The 
result was an act of the legislature containing the following provi- 
sions : — 

Whoever shall transplant one hundred white mulberry trees of three or 
more years' growth on his, her, or their land, within this State, adapted 
to the growth and cultivation of the same, at such distances from each other 
as will best favor their full growth and the collection of their leaves, shall 
receive at the end of two years next after said trees shall have been trans- 
planted as aforesaid, one dollar, and in the same proportion of a greater 
number transplanted as aforesaid, upon proof and certificate thereof as here- 
after prescribed, and that such trees were, at the end of two years after trans- 
planting as aforesaid, in a healthy and growing condition. 

It was also enacted that, where silk was reeled from cocoons by 
the improved method, fifty cents per pound should be paid to the 
person reeling it, or causing it to be reeled. A bounty of $1,500 
was bestowed upon the Mansfield Silk Company. 

A general interest in silk culture was excited by this legislative 
action; and Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Maine, 
following the example of Connecticut, offered bounties for cocoons 
and raw silk raised within their borders. 



8 SILK INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Among those who closely observed the principles of the machin- 
ery employed in the silk mill was Nathan Rixford. He had just 
established himself as a builder of machinery at Mansfield Hollow. 
Scarcely was the machinery of the mill complete, when this young 
man projected considerable improvements upon it, and began con- 
struction accordingly. Doubling and winding frames and a spin- 
ner made upon his plans were a notable advance on the English 
machinery of Golding, and many marked features then introduced 
by Mr. Rixford are retained among the improvements of the silk 
manufacture of to-day. His success attracted attention. He soon 
began to receive orders from different parts of the country, and 
for several years was the principal builder of silk machinery. 
Prominent among the earlier silk culturists and manufacturers 
were Jonathan H. Cobb, of Dedham, Mass.; the Nantucket Silk 
Company, of Nantucket, Mass.; Samuel Whitmarsh, of Northamp- 
ton, Mass.; and Cheney Brothers, of Manchester, Conn. Mr. 
Whitmarsh and others introduced new varieties of mulberry-trees, 
prominent among which was the much-vaunted Multicaulis, and of 
less celebrity, though more value, the Alpine and the Brussia, the 
two latter being really worthy of cultivation in this country, while 
the former, by its utter and widespread failure, after being absurdly 
overrated, brought loss and disgrace on the entire silk industry of 
the United States. 

A few words may be devoted to the "multicaulis fever." Haste 
to be rich led the way. Instead of the old method of planting 
mulberry orchards with the well-known and hardy varieties of the 
tree, the system was adopted of securing from trees of a single 
season's growth leaves fit for feeding. For this purpose, planting 
in close hills or in hedges was necessary, and the Morus multicaulis 
was the favorite tree. Its luxuriant growth, when stimulated, was 
indeed remarkable. Its leaves, fed to the worm, produced a silk 
that was not equal in quality to that from the white mulberry. 
The trees had to be housed in winter, either in cellars or in earth- 
vaults. Notwithstanding the objections to it, the multicaulis grew 
rapidly in popular favor. Rarely was a garden or a cultivated 
spot to be seen without this tree. A demand for the trees them- 
selves sprang up, — a demand that gave them an absurd and facti- 
tious value. Prices ranged for trees produced from one bud or 
cutting, and of a single season's growth, from five cents to ten, 
twenty, fifty cents, one dollar, and in some instances five dollars 



SILK INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES. 9 

apiece. The value of trees became greater than that of the silk 
that could be obtained by them; the trees were worth too much 
to be used for silk culture, and the raising of these trees became a 
speculative business of great activity. The excitement reached 
its culminating point in 1839, when the fortunes of many thrifty men 
who had embarked in the enterprise were wrecked in bankruptcy. 
Even then, although the failure of the muUicaulis was assured, the 
mania for raising mulberry trees was not abated, hardier varieties 
being its objects. The writer was witness to an instance of the 
height to which this excitement carried prices, and places the facts 
here as a matter of record. Two trees of one season's growth, 
raised by Elder Sharp, of North Windham, Conn., were sold, 
standing in his nursery, in August, 1842, after due advertisement, 
at auction. The first one offered brought $10(3, the second $100; 
and farther sales were withheld because the bidding was not con- - 
sidered as sufficiently spirited. Disaster followed this baseless 
speculation, as might have been anticipated, when the price of the 
trees exceeded the worth of the product; and in 1843-44 the fab- 
ric of artificial values collapsed. A deep reaction in popular feel- 
ing took the place of the former excitement; and the whole busi- 
ness of silk culture sank into disfavor, along with the costly and 
now neglected mulberry trees. A blight of a general character, to 
which even the hardy white mulberry yielded at last, gave the fin- 
ishing blow, and silk culture in America ceased t ) exist. 

From 1828 to 1844 the members of the Mansfield Silk Company 
passed through sixteen years of varied experience, which must 
remain for the most part unwritten. They were men not wanting 
in thrift or enthusiasm; but they lacked capital, and their ignor- 
ance of the business of manufacture frequently made them the 
dupes of unwise experiment. Their attempt at weaving, though 
they succeeded with vest patterns, handkerchiefs, and some other 
goods, must be pronounced a failure, both as to the quality desired, 
and from a pecuniary point of view. They exceeded their first 
limit of $700 assessment, and each paid in more than $1,000, besides 
devoting abundant time and effort ; but the result was at last 
disastrous. Before their final dissolution, the company let their 
establishment to others who carried on the silk manufacture. But 
to the original company must be accredited the honor of having 
originated the business, and the popular interest in it which has. 
since carried it onward. 



/ 



10 SILK INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Mr. Lilly was himself the first to sever connection with the com- 
pany. He failed in his regular business in 1835, and attributed 
his misfortune to his interest in silk manufacture. It was, per- 
haps, the last straw on the camel's back. He was past the meridian 
of life, and his wounded feelings never recovered from the shock 
of his failure. His interest in the company was appraised and 
sold, in the settlement of his estate, for $350. The dissolution of 
the company took place in 1839, — William A. Fisk, Jesse Bingham 
and Storrs Hovey withdrawing altogether from the business. A 
small but prosperous enterprise was carried on by Captain Conant 
and William Atwood, associated with Harvey Crane, in the manu- 
facture of sewing-silk and button-hole twist. About the year 1840 
the New York and Northampton Silk Company employed Captain 
Conant as their agent. They had then been in existence since 1834, 
.and hoped that the Captain could retrieve their waning fortunes. In 
this he did not succeed; but he spent several years in Northamp- 
ton, principally engaged in the silk business; at last returning to 
Mansfield. In 1853 he built a small silk-mill and dye-house upon 
ground newly broken for the purpose. A few houses have gather- 
ed around this site, and it is known as Conantville. The company 
formed by Messrs. Atwood and Crane with Captain Conant dis- 
solved at his departure, and Mr. Atwood built a small mill (using 
the Rixford machinery), a dye-house, and other appropriate struc- 
tures, on Mount Hope River. His undertaking was crowned with 
success. Mr. Atwood was at the time of his death, in 1851, the 
leading silk manufacturer of the town, w 7 hich still bears the name 
•of Atwoodville. 

To close this portion of our history, it is only necessary to fol- 
low the fortunes of Mr. Golding. After the dissolution of the 
Mansfield Silk Company, he was associated with Messrs. Zalmon 
Storrs & Son, and in 1843 had been for some time engaged with 
"them in the manufacture of sewing-silk. They built a small, neat 
mill in Mansfield Hollow, equipping it with the Rixford machin- 
ery. During ten years their associated efforts w r ere prosperous. 
After they dissolved company Mr. Golding bought land and water- 
power at a site one mile to the north-east of Mansfield Centre, 
.and there broke ground for a new silk-mill. The canal was partly 
excavated, and some of the stone had been gathered for the build- 
ing, when Mr. Golding was taken ill, and, after a brief illness, 
passed away. The gathered stone and ground broken for the 



SILK INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES. H 

mill still remain untouched, — a sad monument to this pioneer of 
the silk manufacture of America. 

It was not proposed in this rapid sketch to name all those whose 
efforts in the infancy of the silk business contributed, through 
years of struggle and difficulty, to its ultimate success; nor is it 
possible here to assign the share of honor that is due to each, 
where all devoted their best endeavor. But the important relation 
which the dyeing of silk bears to this industry makes it necessary 
that some incidents connected with that branch of the business 
should be placed on record. The first in this country to make a 
business of silk- dyeing, and to improve its processes, were Edward 
Vallentine and Lewis Leigh, who had been practically engaged in 
this occupation in London, England. They came to the United 
States in 1838, and in August of that year Mr. Vallentine began 
business as a silk-dyer at Gurleyville, Conn. He soon obtained 
the patronage of most of the silk manufacturers in that vicinity, 
gaining a reputation by the use of new and brilliant colors and a 
permanent black, that were much admired. About 1839-40, 
doubtless under inducements held out by the New York and 
Northampton Silk Company, Mr. Vallentine removed to Northamp- 
ton, Mass., where he carried on the business of silk-dyeing success- 
fully. Although of apparently robust constitution, he did not sur- 
vive the meridian of life. His death occurred in 1851. Mr. Leigh, 
who is still living, is regarded by the craft as a master in the art 
of silk-dyeing ; and to his and Mr. Vallentine's efforts must be 
given the credit of having done much to establish this branch of 
industry. 

At least one incident connected with the importation of raw silk 
deserves mention. When the American raw silk was properly reeled, 
it took precedence of any that was imported, being more easily 
worked. At the suggestion of Mr. William Atwood, about the 
year 1840, Mr. Ezra Groodridge, of New York, sent a sample skein 
of American silk to China, with an order for a few bales of an ar- 
ticle to be similar in all respects. In compliance with this order, 
an invoice came of silk described as " re-reeled Canton. " The 
skeins were fac-similes of the American sample. They gave great 
satisfaction ; and up to the present time, silk of this character has 
•been the subject of large importation. 

The amount of our imports of raw silk may now be taken as the 
measure of the silk industry, which," as we have seen, began with 



12 SILK INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

home growth and a home manufacture originally dependent upon 
the native product, and gained sufficient foothold to survive the 
extinction of American silk culture. The earlier importers of raw 
silk in New York exhibited commendable enterprise in fostering 
our infant silk manufactures, and bore their share of the losses 
which usually attend new enterprises. At the present day the 
number of importers is largely increased, to meet the demands of 
a business amounting to 1,250,000 lbs. of raw silk annually, of a 
gold value of $7,500,000. 

Among the large manufacturing establishments which create the 
demand for these importations, may be mentioned that of Messrs. 
Cheney Brothers, at Manchester, Conn., which has arisen out of 
the ashes — destruction having likewise overtaken their earlier ef- 
forts in raw silk culture. They are now the leaders in the Ameri- 
can silk industry, and are successful in spinning, weaving, dyeing, 
and all other branches of the manufacture. The Nonotuck Silk 
Company's establishment at Florence, Mass., which is an out- 
growth upon the ruins of the New York and Northampton Silk 
Company, next deserves mention. Sewing-silk and machine-twist 
are the specialty of this concern, which gives employment steadily 
to more than 400 operatives, manufacturing more than 80,000 lbs. 
of raw silk annually. There are in all, at the present time, 156 silk 
factories in the following States: New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl- 
vania, Maryland, California, Kansas, Connecticut, Massachusetts, 
New Hampshire and Vermont. They give employment to about 
12, 000 operatives. 

The production of raw silk in this country, which in 1828 amount- 
ed in Mansfield alone .to 3,200 lbs., and which ceased entirely in 
1844, has since been revived in California, meeting there with a 
modified success. There is no goocT^ reason why it should not 
be again extended throughout the United States. Since the in- 
troduction of the mulberry seed by Dr. Aspinwall in 1766, the 
history of this culture has been pregnant with encouragement, 
and only a fortuitous conjunction of misfortunes checked it. 
American silk, the quality of which is known to be superior to 
any that is imported, would have to-day a cash value and an in- 
exhaustible home market. The subject of silk culture in the United 
States deserves special consideration from the Silk Association of 
America. 

Florence, Mass., February, 1875. 



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